Konoha Village. The Memorial Stone on the back hill.
Kakashi Hatake had been spending a lot of time here lately. It was his ritual. Whenever something happened—good, bad, or just plain significant—he'd come to visit the gravestones of his past friends.
This place was his solace, or rather, it held what was left of it. His teacher, his friends... they were all buried here.
"I'll be on a long mission for a while," he said, placing two bouquets of white flowers in front of the gravestones of his former teammates. "Probably won't have time to see you until everyone in the village has forgotten the Uchiha tragedy and relaxed a bit."
"Besides Yamato, nothing happy happened today, and I'm a bit busy. I have to go sweep my father's grave in a little while. Obito, Rin... goodbye."
As he was about to leave, he noticed something odd. There was an extra bouquet of flowers on the First Hokage's gravestone, and the stone itself was wiped clean.
It was... a bit strange, but not that strange.
The Konoha ninjas of this era no longer really worshipped the First Hokage; he was too distant a figure, and most of his contemporaries were long gone. Usually, his grave was cleaned as part of a collective effort. His only remaining relative, Tsunade, was traveling abroad.
Kakashi didn't give it much thought. It was probably just the Third Hokage. He turned and left.
"Next, I'll go sweep his grave," Kakashi murmured, shaking the thoughts from his mind as he walked towards the burial place of his father, Sakumo Hatake.
Even though the three legendary Sannin had attended his funeral, and Tsunade had fought for him to be buried at the Memorial Stone, others had objected.
Since Tsunade had left the village, the young Kakashi couldn't oppose their decision. People believed Sakumo had committed suicide out of guilt for a failed mission, so his grave was relegated to a small corner of a public cemetery.
It was a shameful thing. It had been painful for Kakashi in his childhood. But as he grew up, and more and more people around him died, he no longer had the energy to care.
Too many people had died. Everyone who was important to him kept dying. Besides, even with his strength, he couldn't change the village's decision. And maybe his father wouldn't have wanted to be buried there anyway. His way of thinking had always been at odds with the other ninjas.
Perhaps only his idiot teammate, the long-dead Obito, would have agreed with him.
Lost in these memories, Kakashi arrived at the small corner of the cemetery and saw a bouquet of white flowers already placed in front of his father's gravestone. Even the weeds had been cleared away.
"Did a friend come to visit him?" he wondered, surprised. His father didn't have many friends. Perhaps... only Lady Tsunade was left. He remembered the flowers on the First Hokage's grave.
Could she have returned?
Did the Uchiha tragedy finally startle her enough to come back after all these years?
Not that it was any of his business.
Kakashi headed back to the commercial street to buy a few things before returning to ANBU duty. Things had been busy lately. They had to be on high alert for enemy infiltration. The village's barrier team had reported abnormalities before the Uchiha clan was annihilated, but they'd never found the source. Now, patrols had to be strengthened.
He found himself wandering towards the sweet shop. Before major events, there was always a line here. It seemed a bit shorter recently. A group of his former classmates were gathered, taking a break and discussing the Uchiha incident.
"I really didn't expect it... the Uchiha clan, wiped out by a thirteen-year-old chunin."
"Speaking of which, were there any Uchiha in our year?"
"Have you forgotten? Kakashi's teammate, Obito. But I think he died during the war..."
A young man in a green jumpsuit with a watermelon haircut spotted him and called out, "Hey, Kakashi, over here!"
Kakashi just glanced over, his feet slowly starting to move. He remembered the flowers at the Memorial Stone. "Have you seen Lady Tsunade?" he asked casually.
"Haven't seen her. Has she returned?" a few of them asked, surprised.
"What's wrong, Kakashi?" the youth in the green jumpsuit, who had the best relationship with him, asked curiously. "Your mood seems to have been getting lower and lower recently." He clenched his fist. "How about a youthful duel right now!"
"I have to go," Kakashi rejected him without mercy, turning to leave. He was in no mood to chat.
But as he was leaving, he noticed a strange person sitting under a large tree outside the shop. The person wore a bamboo hat that covered their face.
Beside them was an unopened cup of sugarcane juice, and in their hand was a pen, writing something on a scroll. He looked like a ninja. At this sensitive time, someone dressed so strangely should have been investigated.
Kakashi walked over, intending to ask about his origins. But as he got closer, the person put away the scroll and strode towards a Konoha ninja—the Special Jonin, Anko Mitarashi.
Anko didn't have a strong presence in the village. She liked sweets, had a short temper, and her teacher was the S-rank rogue ninja, Orochimaru. Her life had been difficult ever since his defection.
Kakashi thought that if this person knew Anko, maybe he wasn't an enemy. But then, he didn't know what the mysterious man said, but a look of terror appeared on Anko's face, and she followed him away, step by step. This was too strange.
A hint of curiosity surged in Kakashi's heart. He quietly followed, his mind racing.
Who on earth is that person?
The next moment, a gentle breeze lifted the bamboo hat just enough for Kakashi to see the other's face. The person had vertical pupils. He'd seen them before.
That S-rank rogue ninja who had defected from Konoha. When he was ordered to hunt him down, he had been so intimidated by his killing intent that he couldn't move. He remembered those eyes.
A shock flashed through Kakashi's heart. His hand subconsciously grabbed his kunai. He knew his identity.
Orochimaru.
He had actually appeared in Konoha again. Kakashi left an ANBU sign for support while personally tailing them. He would never have thought that his tailing had long been detected.
A black and white creature quietly emerged from the ground and erased the sign.
"It seems Lord Emiya has found the cursed seal left by Orochimaru," White Zetsu chuckled, praising Shirou's wisdom. "Actually, he's really mastered deception. He used the Transformation Jutsu to turn into Orochimaru. He already succeeded in deceiving that little girl, didn't he?"
"He has already shown a flaw," Black Zetsu's voice was strange. It had watched the entire clumsy performance. "That little girl must be very close to Orochimaru. But this fellow Wei Yuan doesn't even know her name and just used Orochimaru's face to trick her away. She must have already discovered his flaw. Does Wei Yuan really think his acting has deceived her?"
But their goal was ultimately achieved. Although Black Zetsu didn't know what Anko was thinking, she had followed him.
Unfortunately, Shirou's tracks had already been discovered.
"Kakashi... I remember he's Obito's friend," White Zetsu sighed. "I didn't expect that it would be the little brat we used back then who discovered Lord Emiya's tracks."
"It doesn't matter. Anyway, he's no match for Wei Yuan," Black Zetsu chuckled, then, relying on his thorough understanding of Shirou, predicted Kakashi's fate. "But his luck is good. Fortunately, he ran into Wei Yuan. He should be able to survive under his mercy.
Back then, Kakashi's father, Sakumo, was once Wei Yuan's assistant.
This morning, Wei Yuan had just paid respects at Sakumo's grave. He could even show mercy to Madara's successor, Obito, let alone the son of a former acquaintance.
Truly... meaningless kindness.
To Kaguya, everyone in this world deserves to die. How could your momentary kindness possibly change the outcome of their lives..."